Birmingham Sees Highest Homicide Rate Since 2008
Birmingham is approaching its ninetieth homicide for 2015, making this the city’s deadliest year since 2008.
The 87 homicides this year (as of this writing) stops and significantly reverses a three-year decline. In 2014 there were 59, versus 66 in 2013, and 72 in 2012. In the years prior to that, the numbers fluctuated — there were 57 in 2011, down from the 62 in 2010, which was down from 71 in 2009, the 88 in 2008, 93 in 2007 and the 109 in 2006. Ten years ago, in 2005, there were 105 homicides in Birmingham. (Nick Patterson, writing in WELD)
Why is this happening and what does it say about the city and the greater community? For more, WBHM’s Rachel Osier Lindley spoke with Nick Patterson, editor of the weekly newspaper WELD. Patterson discusses why officials think the homicide rate is up, and what the City of Birmingham is planning with its newly-declared war on crime.
Key takeaways from the Trump-dominated NATO summit
NATO's summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday has been described as "transformational" and "historic."
Trump administration sues all of Maryland’s federal judges over deportation order
The action lays bare the administration's attempt to exert its will over immigration enforcement, and a growing anger at federal judges who have blocked executive branch actions they see as lawless.
In a first-of-its-kind decision, an AI company wins a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by authors
U.S. District Judge William Alsup's ruling this week, in a case brought by authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber and Kirk Wallace Johnson last year, opens a potential pathway for AI companies to train their large language models on copyrighted works without authors' consent — but only if copies of the works were obtained legally.
RFK Jr. says U.S. will stop funding global vaccine group over ‘vaccine safety’ issues
The secretary of health and human services said that funding will be curtailed until Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, takes into account the science of vaccine safety in its campaigns.
Senators question Trump plan to kill federal funds for PBS, NPR and some foreign aid
Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee pushed back against the Trump administration's bid to rescind federal funding for public broadcasting and international aid programs.
Judge orders Trump administration to resume distributing money for EV chargers
Congress designated money for building new EV chargers, but the Trump administration put a freeze on those funds. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering the program to resume.